Just one more thing before I go.....

~K~ is still asleep. I don't want to wake her. Not now. Not yet. Let her sleep the peaceful sleep of the innocent while she can. Unafraid of what's to come.

But me? I'm scared. Scared to death. I can't stop crying. I have the shakes. My stomach is churning. Churning like the waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Katrina is on her way and we're riding out the storm.

My parents have been married for 60 years this year. They've lived in this house for almost 50. My dad is in poor health. He refuses to go. He won't leave his home. He will not evacuate and if we forced him - it would kill him before we left the city. My mom, understandably, won't leave him. Not that we'd even consider that. And I cannot leave my parents to fend for themselves. Will not leave them.

We're buckling in. Getting ready as best we can. Praying we survive not only the storm but the aftermath. The potential days of flood waters that won't drain, can't drain, from this soup bowl of a city. The weeks of being without power, in the heat, with the mosquitos and flies. And worse....

...the devasting ruin of my beloved city. The loss of life and property. The smell of decay and death. I don't remember the last flood during Hurricane Betsy. I was still a baby. My father tells stories of working body recovery and the horrors he witnessed. And how as he waded through waist deep waters to make his way home. He was still a block away when he heard me crying as my mother tried to console me. He tells me how he got down on his knees, right there in the street and prayed. He thanked God that his family was alive. And we were all safe.

Hopefully this will be the same story this time around.

We are prepared. As much as we can be. We have a plan. I hope and pray we never have to put it into action.

But we just have to have faith. In ourselves, in each other and in God to help get us through this potentially horrible disaster.

Please pray for us.